Women's Journal: Giving thanks to the goalies

BU's Kerrin Sperry is eighth in the nation with a
1.60 goals-against average. (BU Athletics)

Several New
England women’s college hockey players and coaches
will be giving thanks for
their outstanding goaltending while celebrating around the American
Thanksgiving table on Thursday.

2013-14 is shaping
up to be a special season for stellar goalies throughout Hockey
East, ECAC and Division III. As of this week, four of the
national leaders in goals against average are from New
England: Quinnipiac’s Chelsea Laden (third with 1.07),
Harvard’s EmeranceMaschmeyer (fourth with 1.24), Holy Cross’s Alexandra
Stevenson (seventh with 1.50) and Boston University and North
Reading, Mass.’s Kerrin Sperry (eighth with 1.60.)

Maschmeyer (second with a .956), Laden (fourth with a .947)
and Sperry (fifth with a .945) all are in the top ten nationally in
save percentage as well. In winning percentage, Manchester, New
Hampshire native Lauren Slebodnick out of Cornell, Stevenson and Boston
College’s Corinne Boyles joins the trio to make a very New England-y
national top ten.

Maschmeyer, Laden and
Sperry’s performances are not surprising, but also
weren’t a given going into the season. Despite quickly
adapting to Division I play in her freshman season and ousting her now assistant coach Laura
Bellamy for the starting job, Maschmeyer sometimes found big games, like last
season’s NCAA quarterfinal against Boston College, daunting
due to inexperience.

Laden came into
her junior season without much starting experience, having served
as back-up to the Bobcats’ steady goaltender
Victoria Vigilanti for the past two years. Prior to this
year, the Lakeville, Minnesota native had seen action in 18 games, with 11 of those
coming during her freshman campaign, where she went 5-5.

Sperry entered her
senior year with huge holes in her defensive corps due to injuries
and graduations, but has had a career season despite
it. The inexperience of the
blue liners in front of her can be quantified in the number of
saves she is having to make (343, one of the highest totals in the
nation – though no where near Bemidji
State’s BrittniMowat has had to
make 412 saves on 443 shots seen.) In addition to the challenges on the ice, she’s taking graduate
classes while starting up with her campus’s ROTC – not
exactly an easy senior year.

Not to be outdone,
Division III goalies in the region are also doing well early in
their seasons. Norwich transfer goalie Taylor Fairchild is second
in the nation in goals against average with 0.75 through five
games. Middlebury junior Annabelle Jones is two
spots behind her in fourth, with a 0.99. Former Boston Shamrocks product
Tori Gianformaggio is second in national save percentage, having made an incredible
130 saves in three games so far this season (save totals of 49, 41
and 40) for a .963.

Player of
the Week

Amanda Pelkey, jr. forward, Vermont,
Montpelier, Verm.

Pelkey seems to be using this summer’s USA
Hockey Olympic Tryout Camp experience as extra motivation to be a
standout on this year’s Catamount’s squad. She set the
program’s career record in points Friday night as they hosted
Northeastern. The Huskies came away with the 2-1 win that night,
but Pelkey’s power play tally in the third was her
53rd point, which bests 2013 graduate Emily
Walsh’s mark of 52. She
added another goal in Vermont’s 3-2 win over Northeastern on
Saturday. Pelkey is second in Hockey East in scoring with
11 goals and nine assists thus far.

Team of
the Week

Providence
College

After a
disappointing start to the season, the Friars have found their
footing. They stopped a seven game losing streak this past week
with two solid wins against Maine. Their penalty kill came to play,
going 9-for-10 on through the two games. Senior Corinne Buie stepped up
as well, scoring two goals and five assists
to take the team’s
scoring lead. Providence will take on Brown Saturday afternoon for
the women’s hockey Mayor’s Cup.

Game of
the Week

Boston College
at Cornell University, Friday night
and Saturday afternoon

The Eagles hope to
keep their two game win streak going in the classic confines
of Lynah Rink in Ithaca, New York this weekend. Cornell
sits on top of the ECAC with a 6-0-2 conference record, and has yet to lose a game this
season. BC will rely on Boyles
and their defensive corps to stay
even with a Big Red team who has
scored less than three goals only once this season (in a 1-1 tie
against Quinnipiac.) The Eagles are seeing a scoring boost from
freshman KristynCapizzano and AndieAnastos, who both had
multi-point weekends last week against UConn.

Power
Rankings

1)
Harvard (7-1-1 overall, 6-1-1 ECAC)
– The Crimson have cemented themselves as one of the
nation’s best as they begin their non-conference slate. They
continue to have a well
distributed offense –
ten members of the roster have goals on the season.

2) Boston
University (11-3-1 overall,
7-0-0 Hockey East) – The Terriers fell to Harvard Friday night, but
bounced back in a tight game against New Hampshire.Penalties are
causing them fits – they are averaging 12.2 a
game. They face a hard-nosed Northeastern teamTuesday
night.

3) Boston
College (11-3-1 overall, 7-1-0
Hockey East) –
Their weekend trip to Ithaca will tell us a lot about how this
Eagles team can fare moving forward. The Eagles need
to work on their penalty kill (54/66), which is a problem spot for them.

4)
Quinnipiac (10-2-5 overall,
3-2-4 ECAC) –
Tying St. Lawrence, losing to Clarkson and tying Princeton in their
last three games does not bode well for the Bobcats.

5)
Vermont (7-7-2 overall, 4-3-1
Hockey East) –
It’s a toss up between Northeastern and Vermont for the fifth
spot, but the Catamounts are showing tenacity at just the right
time. They have won four of their last six games, including a 4-3
OT win against Brown on Tuesday night.